Evidence of the Standing Committee on Health
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43rd PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION Standing Committee on Health EVIDENCE NUMBER 001 Friday, October 9, 2020 : 1 Standing Committee on Health Friday, October 9, 2020 ● (1305) The Clerk: It has been moved by Mr. Davies that Ms. Rempel [English] Garner be elected as first vice-chair of the committee. The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. Jean-François Pagé): Hon‐ [Translation] ourable members of the committee, I see a quorum. Are there any further motions? [Translation] [English] I must inform members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot re‐ Mr. Marcus Powlowski (Thunder Bay—Rainy River, Lib.): ceive other types of motions, cannot entertain points of order nor Are we voting on the first vice-chair? participate in debate. The Clerk: Yes, it's on the opposition vice-chair. [English] (Motion agreed to) We can now proceed to the election of the chair. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the govern‐ The Clerk: I declare the motion carried and Mrs. Rempel Garner ment party. elected as first vice-chair. I am ready to receive motions for the chair. I'll now move to the second vice-chair. Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill, CPC): I [Translation] nominate Mr. McKinnon. The Clerk: It has been moved by Mrs. Rempel Garner that Mr. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a McKinnon be elected as chair of the committee. member of an opposition party other than the official opposition. [Translation] I am now prepared to receive motions for the position of second vice-chair. Are there any further motions? Mr. Marcus Powlowski: I nominate Luc Thériault for second [English] vice-chair. (Motion agreed to) The Clerk: Mr. Powlowski has nominated Luc Thériault for sec‐ The Clerk: I declare the motion carried and Mr. McKinnon duly ond vice-chair of the committee. elected chair of the committee. Are there any further motions? The Chair (Mr. Ron McKinnon (Coquitlam—Port Coquit‐ lam, Lib.)): Thank you all. I shall move to the head of the table (Motion agreed to) now. The Clerk: I declare the motion carried and Mr. Thériault duly If it's okay with the committee, I will ask if the clerk can carry on elected second vice-chair of the committee. with the election of the vice-chairs. [English] Seeing no dissent, Mr. Clerk, will you please go ahead with the Mr. Chair, we may continue. election of the vice-chairs? The Clerk: Yes. The Chair: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a I'll ask the people who wish to speak or to be recognized at any member of the official opposition. point to use the “raise hand” function on the participants panel. I am now prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair. Mr. Van Bynen, I see that your hand is raised. Please go ahead. Mr. Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway, NDP): I nominate Mr. Tony Van Bynen (Newmarket—Aurora, Lib.): Thank Michelle Rempel Garner. you, Mr. Chair. 2 HESA-01 October 9, 2020 I'm still relatively new at this. Is this the appropriate time for me Mr. Darren Fisher (Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, Lib.): Mr. to introduce a motion for a study? I intend to bring forward a mo‐ Chair, are you talking about passing every motion in the routine tion on the impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health and well- motions as we did prior to virtual Parliament? being of Canadians. I would like to go forward with that. The Chair: Thank you, Mr. Van Bynen. Now is not actually the The Chair: That is correct. That is Mr. Davies' suggestion. appropriate time. We have to undertake the routine motions that build the structure around the committee. I will give you first dibs once that's completed to move or to discuss your motion. Mr. Darren Fisher: I only have one concern. I remember that when we were doing these things, there were hiccups with technol‐ ● (1310) ogy. There would be 10 minutes with some of our witnesses, and Mr. Tony Van Bynen: Thank you. then we would go over our time. Quite often there were times when The Chair: Next on the list is Mr. Kelloway. a member who was going to speak near the end wouldn't get a chance to speak. I don't know if that's a concern of other members Mr. Kelloway, please go ahead. on the committee, but I think it's important that everybody and all Mr. Mike Kelloway (Cape Breton—Canso, Lib.): Thank you, parties have a chance to speak. Mr. Chair. Hello to our new colleagues and to our colleagues from the last The Chair: One of the routine motions says that witnesses will session. be given 10 minutes for their opening statements. I think if we're going to modify that, we should deal with that separately. I'd like to move that we readopt all routine motions from the pre‐ vious session. Mr. Darren Fisher: Mr. Chair, I'm okay if you use chair man‐ The Chair: Thank you, Mr. Kelloway. I'm going to suggest that agement on that, but we should make sure that all members are we go through them one at a time so that we're clear as to what the okay with that. motions are and what exactly we're doing. May I get you to move them one by one, please? Mr. Mike Kelloway: Sure. The Chair: All right. The suggestion is that we adopt the routine motions from the previous session as is, except that the motion that Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner: I have a point of order, Mr. the witnesses be given 10 minutes for their opening statements Chair. would be amended so that witness statements can be shortened at The Chair: Yes, Ms. Rempel Garner. the discretion of the chair. Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner: Since you started a speaking list on Mr. Van Bynen's item, I would like to be first in line to re‐ spond. Mr. Fisher, do you have a suggestion for what— The Chair: I'm sorry; do you mean you'd like to be first in line to respond to Mr. Van Bynen's motion? Mr. Darren Fisher: Actually, I would say keep it the way it is, if Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner: That's correct. all members on the committee are okay with the chair using his dis‐ cretion to ensure that all members get a chance to ask all the ques‐ The Chair: Yes, certainly. tions they want to ask. Mr. Don Davies: Mr. Chair, I have a point of order as well. The Chair: Yes, go ahead. Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner: I have a comment on this point, Mr. Don Davies: It's more of a suggestion. I'm just wondering if Mr. Chair. we can get unanimous consent from everybody on the committee to adopt the routine motions as a whole. They were distributed to The Chair: Yes, go ahead. members, and if we don't have any objections to them, we can adopt them all at once and save time. Maybe you can test the com‐ mittee. ● (1315) The Chair: Is it the will of the committee to proceed this way? Do we have any dissent? Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner: From my understanding, now I recognize the will of the committee. I think it's appropriate in that all committees are going to be meeting virtually, it is not likely this case that we do that. I would caution, though, that on an ongo‐ a possibility that committees can extend past their original slots, ing basis we should make sure to do motions one at a time. I think which would preclude members of the opposition from asking there's less confusion that way, but with routine motions, we'll be questions, depending on the speaking order. It would be the prefer‐ fine. ence of the Conservative Party that witness statements be held to five minutes to allow time for technical difficulties. I believe the Once again, I'll test the will of the committee. Is it okay if we PROC recommendation was that witnesses submit their written pass all the routine motions in one fell swoop? Is there any dissent? statements to members ahead of time. October 9, 2020 HESA-01 3 I look to some of my colleagues for thoughts on that, but I don't I think what Darren was talking about was giving you discretion think it's technically possible for the meetings to go over time so to extend the meeting so that we could get all the questions in, and that everybody can speak. I'd hate to see us in a situation where you've interpreted that to mean a limitation on the speakers' time. members don't get their speaking slots because we've allowed wit‐ Maybe I'm misunderstanding that, but the thing is, if you start nesses, especially department officials, 10 minutes when they could changing one part of the routine motion to limit it to five minutes, it have submitted statements ahead of time. could affect other things as well. Mr. Darren Fisher: I think that's an excellent suggestion, Mr. Chair. One thing I was going to suggest that maybe can solve this is to The Chair: The suggestion I'm hearing is that we adopt the rou‐ do as you say, by adopting all the routine motions except the one on tine motions as is except that witnesses not be given 10 minutes, as the witnesses' length of time, and just amend that to be “up to 10 previously, but five minutes for their opening statements.